manser



E..J. MANSER.

ACID STILL. I APPLICATION FILED MAY 31. I919- '1,320,080. Patented Oct. 28,1919.

EDWARD J'. MANSEB, or NOBEL, on'ranro, CANADA.

ACID-STILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented (lot. 28, E1919.

Application filed May 31, 1919. Serial No. 301,132.

- acid in the process of manufacturing nitric acid. Such stills are usually made of cast iron and are liable to crack owing to the difficulty experienced in properly intermingling the acid and saltpeter which results in a large dry area persisting at the bottom of the still until late in the process. The imperfect mixing of the acid and saltpeter also makes the process slower than is theoreti ally practicable and results sometimes in a most explosive reactions when the acid suddenly penetrates a previously dry part of the saltpeter.

My object therefore is to devise means for overcoming the troubles just referred to. I attain my object by means of the constructions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, showing a still provided with my improvements Fig. 2 a horizontal section on the line a'b in Fig. 1; and l Fig. 3a vertical section of one of the joints of the spreader.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

1 is the still, which may be of any form and constructed of any materialcommonly employed. Usually these stills are made of cast iron.

At the bottom of the still inside I provide a hollow conical spreader supported in any suitable manner and preferably by resting, on the bottomof the still. This spreader.

comprises two parts, the frusto-conical portion 2 and the hollow conical cap 3.. The frusto-conical portion .2 has aserles of openings t formed around its lower edge. Over the opening in its upper end is supported the cap. VVhile'any means may be provided for holding the gap in position above the opening and spaced from the sides of the frusto-conical portion 2, 1 illustrate for this purpose a spider 5 which rests on the part 2 and on the outer ends of which the cap 3 itself rests.

The device, it will be seen, is made in sections, the edges of the sections being halved together. This enables me to introduce the parts through the opening in the top of the still and build up the device inside.

The operation of the device is as follows: The sodium nitrate, which is introduced through the opening 6 in the top ofthe still, strikes the spreader and is distributed between the spreader and the sides of the still. Part of it will find its way down through the openings & into the center of the bottom of the still. A charge of sulfuric acid, when introduced through the opening 6, is distributed by the spreader so that part of it flows over the top of the sodium nitrate and down the inner walls of the still. Part also flows down over the surface of the spreader itself. With this arrangement I find that the acid and sodium nitrate are much more easily and quickly intermingled than when the still is operated in the ordinary way. Normally the sodium nitrate accumulates in a conical heap in the bottom of the still which the acid does not readily penetrate. Gases generated b the acid and sodium nitrate escape readi y from the space between the two parts of the spreader.

This device will be found to satisfactorily attain the objects of my invention as set around its lower edge and a conical. cap; supported over the opening in the top of the edge'anda protected gas outlet at its upper frusto-conical portion and spaced from the end. 10

sides of said portion to form a gas exit. Signed at Parry Sound, Canada, this 3. An acid still provided internally at the 22nd day of May 1919.

bottom with a hollow conical spreader di- EDWARD J. MANSER.

vided both vertically and horizontally into Witnesses:

sections fitted together, said spreader being ANsoN R. HAWKE,

provided with inlet openings at its lower GEORGE LIT'I'LEHALES. 

